Because I Believe in Second Chances
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: Too much death and despair has plagued the Runaways, and they've been no strangers to loss. So a stranger of power and more decides to help them and undo the damage caused by their parents, the Pride. But someone just as powerful…and as dangerous as he can be to people incapable of redemption has other plans for the Runaways. Read and review if you like stories of redemption!


Creation began on 09-04-09

Creation ended on 01-10-15

Runaways

Because I Believe in Second Chances

A/N: The _Runaways_ series is cool, but I don't like how the makers just remove from life some of the best characters: Alex tried to redeem himself through helping his fellow Runaways after his own demise, Gertrude sacrificed herself to save Chase, and Old Lace died to protect Klara from death. Now, a face from another period of existence comes to do some good for the remaining members, and he has a belief that transcends all things relating to science, magic and religion. The characters of _Runaways _don't belong to me and never will, nor am I making this for a profit, but the characters in my possession do belong to me completely! On with the show!

He felt their ends, united, even though they had departed at different times. First, a young man that knew of what his parents and the parents of former comrades were up to, trying to bring about the end of humanity, and actually trying to help prevent their murder by the other members, gets incinerated to ash and spent the rest of his, former and uncertain, eternity trying to atone for his sins in a strange, limbo-like realm. Second, a young girl, that cared so much for a street-smart man with a troubled past and an abusive, scientist father, receives a stab to her torso and her lover is forced to watch her depart from his life forever, with only her dinosaur, given to her by her time-traveling parents, as a type of inheritance, to him to save it. Lastly, ages later, the dinosaur itself died protecting a girl that could control plants from certain death. They were enough to break his spirit in two, but his will was strong enough to keep it from happening.

_The girl and her dinosaur were undeserving of their fates while the boy tried to earn his way out of the limbo he found himself in as a result of his actions, but death coming to people at such young ages are intolerable, even to me,_ the man thought, seeing the moments of their end through a glass sphere, _and while the boy was wrong for what he tried to do, he never deserved such a penalty. The alien that fought alongside the other kids to feed her ego did one thing right, and that was to save her betrothed from a punishment she was undeserving of because of her parents. She took the blame to keep her with her friends who would help her cope. It's been six years since I last did some good with my abilities, so it's about time I did some more to bring balance to those that barely have any left. Broken hearts mend in due time, but I feel differently about such a belief: While hearts mend, balance with the ones that gave their lives to do the right thing never leaves the ones they care for behind._

-x-

Three days after the death of Old Lace, and Chase couldn't stop thinking about how much, not only did he survive when the attack should've killed him, as well, he owed Gertrude for her dinosaur's self-sacrifice to save Klara. Although, he'd gone past grieving for her, for both of them, he still thought of them deeply.

_I'm sorry, Gert,_ he thought, wishing he could take back what happened to Old Lace.

"Chase," went a girl voice to him, "you can stop feeling bad about what happened. We're fine."

He looked up, and couldn't believe his eyes: In his room, right this very minute, were the purple-haired Gertrude and her dinosaur, Old Lace, looking as fine as they were before their deaths.

"Gert?" He went, unsure if his eyes and ears were playing tricks on him…or if this were the real Gert and Old Lace. "Is that really you?"

"Yes, it's really me," the purple-dyed head girl responded, sitting down in front of him. "We were…brought back by him. He brought us back."

"Who? Who brought you back?"

"It was I who brought them back," said somebody that sounded like he was over an age where power outdoes morality, and Chase looked up to see somebody that was right in the house with them: He looked on the dark side of humanity with his appearance, dressed in regular jeans and a blue, short-sleeved shirt, but there was something about him that just seemed…so odd.

"You can relax," he told Chase. "You're not going crazy. You're as sane as you were when you found out your parents were part of the criminal organization called 'The Pride'."

"Who are you?" Chase asked him.

"I'm called Brother Correction, a spiritual brother of everyone that carries a soul and one of the masters of life and death. I used to be a demigod in another dimension…ages ago…but that has become a thing of the past for me. I can do just about anything I choose to, and when I found that three of your friends had been killed, prematurely, I couldn't allow life to slip from existence and not do anything about it. I brought your love interest and her dinosaur back to life, along with your original leader before he turned on you."

"You mean Alex? You brought him back?" Chase asked, confused and angry.

"He's outside in a sphere, floating around the house. I brought him back, but that doesn't mean I've let him have his life back to himself. I feel the need to consult with you all on what to do about him. Most people would turn back on their life being given back to them out of the fear of losing it again…but I'm one of the few that believe in second chances."

-x-

Having thought they'd seen it all, Nico, Molly, Karolina, Klara, Victor and Chase couldn't believe what was right out front of their Malibu home: Gertrude and Old Lace, looking like they were brand new and everything, and Alex, floating around in a floating, grey bubble being controlled by individual known as Brother Correction, staying still as to not provoke any potential harm.

"…So…you're some sort of god?" Nico asked the man, unsure of his appearance and his possible agenda for being here, other than what he was offering them back. "Are you like the Gibborim?"

"No. I'm different from them…in various ways. I am powerful, and always growing stronger, but I don't feed on the souls of others. I prefer to be decisive, persuasive and corrective of things that have happened to people, as I've always been ever since I came into existence. I mean no malice or cruelty to any of you, who have good in their hearts, making up for the wrongs their parents have done for years after making their pact with the Gibborim, and I act on behalf of the innocent…to punish the guilty and wretched that allow themselves to be corrupted by their own, twisted desires. Like any true gods, I'm omnipresent, have existed everywhere, seeing everything, allowing me to know everything about anyone, past, present and future, and I'm capable of anything desired by me…given I have the motivation to do so. I'm going to do all that I can to undo what the Pride has done to those souls they sacrificed to their benefactors over the years and remove the darkness of the people they harmed."

Then, Karolina asked about Alex, wishing to know what would be done about him.

"I leave it up to all of you," he answered her. "He is, technically, alive, but as long as I keep him in that sphere, his life isn't truly his to do whatever he wishes with it. He did all that he did just to gain his father's praise. Wrong, he was, but motivated by such a need, as any that desire the acknowledgment of others in their lives to take the paths that were laid out in front of them. You're free to decide his fate: He may live again…or he may leave again."

Klara, since she knew nothing about Alex, let the other members decide what to do about him.

Huddling together (Gert and Old Lace were included); they made small talk about him.

"He says he believes in second chances," said Chase to them, "and Nico, you yourself once tried to bring him back, saying he didn't deserve what he got. We could keep him on a leash or something, to make sure he stays in line."

"If he tries what he did again, we could leave him at a police station or an orphanage with a permanent case of amnesia," suggested Karolina, preferring that Nico just made the choice, no matter what it was.

"Whatever you decide, Nico, I'm cool with it," said Gert.

"If he stays, he ain't living in my room," went Molly to them.

That left the young sorceress to decide the fate of their former leader and friend.

"Brother Correction," she spoke out to him. "Let him live again."

The deity smiled and popped the sphere Alex was in, letting him fall onto the ground.

"Ouch," he groaned as he got up and rubbed his bottom. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. You still have to know the value of hard work. True forgiveness can't be easily given as it is earned by one's hardships. When their trust in you has been proven genuine, your thanks will definitely be accepted." Brother Correction told him, but then noticed that Molly was staring at him, like she knew something the others didn't. "Do I confuse you, Ms. Hayes?"

"You said you know about us, our pasts and futures," she spoke up. "Does that mean you've been following us everywhere?"

"Yes and no," he answered her. "Unlike most gods, I respect one's need for privacy. But that never stops me from hearing the things I know I must hear to see one's fate…and take possible steps to prevent their premature ends…or undo those ends (then, he looked over at Victor). Mister Mancha, I believe you should call a number that your heart knows you should call. Even though you're not like the others, you are, technically, alive and capable of independent thought and action. In and of itself, you have a soul (then, he looks back at Molly). Just because I'm older than all the people existing today in this age, that doesn't mean I'm not incapable of knowing when I may, possibly, go too far on something or someone. You must be the most impressive of humanity's evolved people to have a hidden intellect that serves you well against certain foes."

Molly's eyes glowed as she responded, "But you're not a foe."

-x-

"Gert, I, uh…" Chase was having a hard time trying to speak to his girlfriend, even though he was happy that she was back in his life. "I…"

Gert stopped him, saying, "It's all right, Chase, really. You don't have to say anything. If there's anyone that should say something, it's me. I didn't have time to say this to you before…but I love you, Chase."

Since they were in his room, they had all the time they needed to pick up where they left off, prematurely, when the time-displaced Geoffrey Wilder tore them apart. And because of the fact that it was night, the other Runaways either trying to rest up for the next day or accept the fact that what had happened today had actually happened: That three of their own were back and that this deity-like creature had brought them back for them and to help undo some of what their parents had done.

Victor, following the suggestion of what Correction had made for him, picked up a phone and dialed a number he hadn't used for a long time: Home. He waited for one minute…and almost gave up when a voice on the other end went, "Mancha residence, Marianella speaking." Victor was lost from his words for twenty seconds before speaking up again.

"Mom?" He asked her, feeling as though he hadn't heard her voice for years.

"Victor?" She asked back. "Oh, my God, is it really you?"

As Victor spoke to his only 'blood' relative, whom was seemingly brought back to life, Klara was thanking Old Lace for saving her life…again and again and again, whilst Nico was trying to make sense of everything new.

_Originally, a demigod a long time ago, but now a god that can do anything it chooses to do…and it chose to bring back our friends that succumbed to death,_ she thought, lying on her bed. _I know I should be grateful that Gert and Alex are back, but I don't buy everything Correction told us._

"Even when I wish to grant you young heroes more than what you're capable of getting through practice and effort?" She got up to the sound of Correction, in her room, sitting in a chair away from her bed. "Heh-heh… You can relax, Ms. Minoru, I'm not here to cause harm to you. I'm just here to state that all the souls that were fed to the Gibborim were restored to life and are living again, their lives theirs to live, knowing they won't be sacrificed to deities that feed off souls…and of your greatest battle…three years from now… The kind that involves the familiar faces that change with time."

"Familiar faces? Three years from now?"

"I saw into the future…or just parts of the future… It's true what some people say: Precognition is like a movie, so parts are always missing, but I saw enough to know one important detail."

"And that would be…"

"You heroes need to put more of your faith in those that aren't all that they appear to be…and your very survival in the hands of the person you would least expect to save you…and I don't mean Alex, who'll, without a doubt, prove his worth."

"I'm gonna guess that you can't exactly tell about these faces, but can you at least tell me a few things?"

"Anything I can tell you."

"Do you ever doubt the people you bring back to life or whatever it is that you do for them?"

"Eh-heh…you're very direct. No, I don't. I can't because I try to see into the good that is definitely there inside them…just buried beneath what plagues them. Such a question and answer even forces me to say that I cannot doubt Ms. Hayes, despite what I even wish I hadn't discovered about her parents, because she's surrounded by such great friends that she views as the only people she can go to when things go out of control."

"What did you find out about her parents?"

"I can't say. Not because I'm a deity, but because it's not something that should be spoken of. It can drive one crazy with the questions of 'how', 'when' and 'why'."

"If you know about us, Brother Correction, then, you'd know that we'd seen crazy things that make even insane people question things that shouldn't be possible. Please, tell me what you found out about Mr. and Mrs. Hayes."

Correction, despite his vast powers, could not find a way out of this conversation with young sorceress, and took in a breath before revealing what he had found out.

"Please, out of respect and trust, don't view Ms. Hayes as being any different than she was when you found out she was a mutant…but her parents weren't her parents, completely. They weren't even husband and wife in their personal lives. The reason why they have the same powers, identical signatures when they use them, and spout on about their so-called 'pureblood' marriage is because they didn't want anyone, not even the other members of the Pride, to know that their relationship was actually…incestuous."

Nico couldn't believe this. Of all the things their parents were capable of as the Pride, this was one of the worst of their secrets: Molly parents were…a brother/sister act…and she was their daughter/sister. Gene and Alice Hayes, the Outcasts of the Pride, were, to her, far worse than her own parents, the Magicians, Robert and Tina Minoru, or Alex's parents, the Thieves, Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder.

"But Molly won't be anything like them, and that's 'cause of these reasons: She has no siblings, is maturing differently through her experiences with all of you, knows what her parents are capable of, doesn't desire to be evil at all, and still has the goal she can look forward to when she gets older and no one will be out for your lives for whatever reasons they have, whether they're because you're the Pride's children or because they want to take over L.A., and that's just to have a family of her own someday. And she did punch Wolverine of the X-Men twice when he spoke up in disrespectful ways. Heh-heh, there's also one other thing she has that her parents might never have, no matter what, and that's great friends like you that can help get through the hard times."

She believed him and agreed with that factor. Molly did have them, and they'd help her get through the hard times, no matter what they were.

"You…you said that there was more you had to offer us, right?" She asked him.

"Hmm," he grunted in response. "What your parents and great-grandmother couldn't give you, I shall. Please…the Staff of One."

Nico opened her bedside dresser and took out the pocketknife that Chase gave her and slit her left wrist, uttering her automatic mantra and holding out the Staff of One. She handed it to him, but became concerned because of what happened to the last guy that tried to take it. But she assumed he knew of that and was taking precautions to prevent that same fate from befalling himself.

"While magic, in all of its forms, is often unpredictable, it can be beneficial when used for a noble cause," he told her, his hands glowing bright blue around the staff. "Instead of being closer to your parents' level of skill in the arts, you shall be above them, and your limitations undone."

Then, the staff had a new feature on it: On one side, there was an embossed 'M' and on the other side was an embossed 'I', glowing purple and green, respectively.

"Think of a past spell you've done before," Correction told her, giving back the staff to her. "Any spell you've done once before."

She explored her past and found one to her liking.

"Your name is Mud," she cast, and shot mud right his feet, not believing that it happened. "But… I had cast that spell once before now."

"And now you can cast it again…and again. The engraved letters stand for 'Infinite Magic', meaning that your spells can be reused over and over again, without limit, and while the staff can still defend itself when in the hands of another person, it now obeys your will. There won't be any devouring unless it's at your discretion…or whatever it is you want the staff to do to those you don't want holding it."

She couldn't believe it. Now, she could reuse her old spells and control the staff better because of this deity. It was like a dream come true, in a weird way.

"But before you go reusing your spells against the criminals trying to fill up the void left by your parents, I must enforce that you do one thing with your new gift, and that's to never end the life of others with your magic. Only then will you be given another gift that I have: The power of revival, or resurrection, as most would like to call it. Before I go, the others shall receive what they shall require later in the future: Gertrude will be given the gift of a healing factor and reactive adaptation, Old Lace will have the ability to change into other dinosaurs to aid her owner, Alex shall have the power to create light-based energy constructs, limited to defense only. I hope to return with friends the next time I come to see you young heroes. And by 'friends', I mean friends of yours. Take care now." Then, he vanished in a puff of red smoke.

-x-

Living in the darkness only reminded her of how much she wished that things had been different back in the past. Sure, she's still in good health, despite being over one-hundred years old, but there were things that she still craved that her former youth had given her: The feeling of hope in her heart, the freedom of mobility, and the comfort of being around those like her. All she had left was the photograph of her first love and the company of her sole-surviving companion that had endured more of what time had thrown at them than she did. Every day, right up to tonight, she missed them…and him, so much so that she nearly had a heart attack because of the memories.

"Miss McGurty?" She raised her head up from looking at the photo toward a young man sitting across from her and her companion. "It's okay; I'm not here to hurt you."

"How do you know who I am?" She asked him, having lived in secret with her companion for years.

"You have a soul; therefore, I know who you are…and who you were. Your full name is Lillie McGurty, your friend here is named Tristan, you were both part of the gang known as the Street Arab, your love interest is Victor Mancha, whom, when he and the group of people he was in were sent back to the seventh year of the nineteen-hundreds, the early Twentieth Century, offered you a chance to come to the present, as you were, instead of living in the past, you declined out of fear and let the young girl known as Klara Prast go in your place. You have regretted that decision every day for the last years of your life."

Lillie nodded and shed tears from the memories, and the young man walked over and carefully wiped away the tears with a tissue.

"The reason I came here to see you is that I'm here to present you and Tristan with an offer that you can accept or reject." He told her.

"What…what kind of offer?" She asked him.

"Your youth, your vitality, your freedom, all returned to you, to look as you did when you first met and fell for Victor, before the bomb that caused Tristan's severe burning and near-death, and most-importantly, to be reunited with Victor and the others. The past can't always be altered, but the present can be changed for the better."

"Would I… Would I have to give you my soul in exchange for all of it?" She asked him.

"No. I'm not a demon. I see flaws in life and try to correct them. Yours is loneliness and depression. I wish to take you away from all of that. And, if I'm right about this, Tristan is miserable when you're miserable, and that's like dragging a friend down despair with you when you wish for them to be happy, as well. So, what do you say?"

Lillie thought of it, and shed more tears as she made her choice right there.

"Do you promise I won't have to part with anything?"

"I promise you don't have to part with anything," he told her.

"Thank you, sir."

He held out his right hand for her, and she accepted with her left hand. She felt something course through her insides, like a warm, soothing rush of water had entered her through her wrinkles. Her heart felt stronger than it did when she was forty, her eyes clearer, and her flesh a lighter shade of her existence. And when he helped her up onto her feet, she felt the strength she had lost, decades ago, back in them, and stood on her own feet again.

Tristan picked up a hand mirror and presented Lillie's face to herself. She looked at herself, seeing not the depressed and elderly woman she had become, but the young, redhead woman she was once more.

"I'm young again," she said, looking at the man, who was now near Tristan and had him hold his left land out, performing the same process he had done for her, returning him to the age and appearance he had before his severe burning at the hands of the time bomb. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he told them. "I can take you to see Victor now if you wish. Although, there's still one more person I need to see before I go back to see those youngsters."

"Who?"

"Are you two familiar with a person named…Xavin?"

Lillie and Tristan looked at other and then back at the man before nodding in the positive.

-x-

Space, the final frontier, as some people used to call it. But for Xavin, it was like a large ocean of darkness that many could venture off into but, if they didn't have any proper guidance or navigational systems that could lead them to their destination, could get lost forever. Every day, for the last few days, it was all she could see, being the prisoner of the surviving Majesdanians as they had sought Karolina out for her father's crime against their fellow people, simply because her father was gone, leaving her as a scapegoat. She couldn't let her to be taken, instead assuming her appearance and going with them to try and end the feud peacefully with her involvement with Karolina.

"We're nearly there, Ms. Dean," said the Majesdanian known as vaRikk. "Do you need anything?"

"No thank you," Xavin responded, fooling them again with her impersonation of her lover.

"What the heck are you?!" The voice of vaDanti shouted, and Xavin/Karolina and vaRikk went to see what had happened.

A black man, along with a pair of young people (a redhead girl and a guy with metal wings), stood in front of the Majesdanian known as vaDanti, looking as though they were here to fight with them. Then, the black man sat down on the floor and spoke up, "Hello, there. We're here to offer a solution to everyone's problem."

"Who are you?" vaDanti demanded from the man, whilst Xavin/Karolina looked at him to confirm what he really was.

"Me? I'm just somebody without a home, just like you four Majesdanians, but unlike you, I'm not bothered by being a nomadic individual, and my solution to you beautiful aliens is a good one. All I ask is that you hand over Ms. Dean to me."

"What?!" vaRikk shouted, charging up his right arm, preparing to send this guy into the next world.

"I'm sure you'll enjoy what I can and will do for you if you let her go," the man told them. "Majesdane and its entire people will be restored…and the ones you really want for their destruction will be given to you in three years."

That's when the other Majesdanians, vaDanti's sister, deHalle, and the man known simply as General vaDrann arrived, instigating more interest from the guy sitting in front of them.

"What, do you need to see my abilities in order to be convinced?" He asked them, and then looked out the glass screening. "Here seems to be a nice spot to perform some recreating. Behold."

The four looked out the screen as fragments of space rock and metal gathered up with dead star matter, colliding against each other as they slammed together, becoming a large chunk of rock and metal with glowing spots.

"Next will be the adding of an atmosphere," he told them, and a larger field of energy gathered around the sphere, "and after will be the gathering of water, which shall produce the air needed to enhance the atmosphere, which in turn will allow for life."

deHalle and vaDanti watched as the large sphere began to resemble more of the planet that they had just left, but because of the still-glowing spots, it reminded them a little bit of Majesdane, and when the creation was completed, it looked like the new planet could sustain a substantial population of Majesdanians, given that its new environment had the right atmosphere for them to live off of.

"Of course, that's just a planet with rudimentary life, like plants and basic organisms," he revealed, "but it can be Majesdane again. Your home, and its people, brought back to life."

"You can really do that?" vaDrann asked him.

"I can do anything I choose to, but I prefer to be persuasive on things. I would like you to release Karolina Dean to me, and in three years, the ones you really want will be yours."

"But the Deans were killed long ago," said vaDanti to him. "Some kids that Ms. Dean was with told me, so how can you promise us them, even in three years, if they're already dead?!"

"Dead doesn't always mean that you stay dead. Think about it: Do you honestly believe that a pair of exiles weren't smart enough to think of a backup strategy when it comes to the inevitable? If you want a guarantee, I'll give you one. I'll send you into the future, three years from now, give or take a month or three, and there, you'll have what you desire, along with your home and people living again, as though their destruction never was. You'll remain as you are, both in appearance and mind, but you'll definitely be in the future with me…if you'll agree to let Ms. Dean go."

deHalle gave him a look of seriousness and wondered if he was trustworthy, seeing that his words were true, but not anything else about him.

"You bring back our people," she said, "you take us into the future, where we wait, and you give us the Deans if we agree to let go of their girl…yeah?"

The man nodded in the positive.

"Who are you?"

"I am called Brother Correction, here to correct mistakes that have been made."

vaDrann sighed and told his fellow Majesdanians to let the Dean girl go.

Xavin/Karolina went over to the three, stayed quiet, and watched as the planet that this man made became more and more like the planet that had been destroyed in the war with the Skrulls. It glowed and began to look like a shining, milky-colored ball. And to her greatest surprise, a pair of little moons was added to the planet.

"Majesdane," said vaRikk, unable to believe that their home was right in front of them.

"There's life there," revealed deHalle, having went over to their computers and scanned the planet. "Majesdanian life. The population is…all of them. Every single one of them is there right now."

Xavin almost let her control slip at the sight of the resurrected world, but remained collected in the false form.

"Are you ready to go back home, Ms. Dean?" Correction asked the young girl. "To your friends and your spouse? They do miss you."

She nodded, wanting to go back to Earth, but more than anything, back to her love.

"I shall return her to Earth, but I shall come back here to honor my word to you four." Correction told the Majesdanians.

"And we'll be here, waiting for you," said vaDrann, and the three, along with the disguised Skrull, disappeared off the ship in a puff of smoke.

-x-

It had been a week since Gert, Alex and Old Lace were brought back to life by Correction, and many of the Runaways have been readjusting to the changes that have happened recently: Old Lace now had the ability to change into other types of dinosaurs, like the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops, a powerful meat-eater and strong plant-eater, respectively. Alex found the switch to control his newly-discovered power of creating constructs of light-based energy, which, incidentally, was tied to his actions done for or against others, but they were limited to just shields and barriers. And Gert found out that every time she had accidentally cut herself on her hands whenever she tried to cook something, her skin healed up seconds after it happened and felt like armor for a time. These gifts from Correction made them a little uneasy at first, but they adjusted and viewed them as normal within four days while he was gone.

Staring up at the sky and bathing in the sunlight, Karolina felt like things were a mix of the old days and present days, with old faces meeting new ones. Flaring up as her body was fully charged with solar energy, she was as prepared for anything that might've happened like before when they had the failed house prom that had, originally, taken Old Lace's life.

"Lucy's in the sky, carrying all of her diamonds," she heard that voice from before, and turned around, seeing Correction…but he wasn't the only one she saw.

There was…a black girl with him, but not just any girl. She had recognized her face anywhere.

"Xavin?" She asked.

"It's me, love," Xavin replied.

While the Majesdanian Runaway was reunited with the Skrull Runaway, the omnipresent Brother Correction was also in the room of Victor Mancha, presenting him with his own love interest.

"Lillie?" He gasped, seeing the beautiful redhead and her metal-winged companion.

"Victor," she greeted him.

Correction was glad that he had brought the three to the others, pretty much completing the group with its past and current members. Originally a group of six kids and a dinosaur, now a group of eleven kids, a dinosaur…and a frog that was being repaired by Chase, it all seemed perfect. Or as perfect as they come with children born to criminal parents or adjusted to life on the streets and living with abusive people for as long as they knew. This omnipresent force of righteousness expressed joy that they were happy to see old friends together again.

_Three years from now, _he thought to himself, having disappeared from the Malibu House that had been repaired after the prom incident. _In three years, they'll face their greatest challenge…and they'll come out free from their bindings, never to be sought out because of their former legacy, their near-misguided natures, or the fact that they live alone. It's about that time I go honor my word to the Majesdanians waiting for me._

-x-

"…Hey, if we're all back together again, does that mean there has to be another house prom?" Molly asked Nico, curious if they were going to repeat the action that nearly got them killed again.

"I prefer going through CDs than to search for music over the radio signals," said Victor to them, not wanting to do such a thing again that he was, indirectly, responsible for.

"Maybe we should hold off on that idea for a few weeks," suggested Karolina.

"I'm cool with that," added Chase. "I still need to fix the Leapfrog after the explosion. Would you care to help me with it, Gert?"

"Any time, Talkback," Gertrude responded, using his old codename for fun.

"Heh-heh-heh!" Nico laughed. "Yeah… No house proms until another time. Let's eat."

-x-

"You sure took your time, Correction," said deHalle, as the deity returned to their ship. "It turns out that every Majesdanian is grateful for you bringing them back."

"Acknowledgment is a reward in and of itself," he told her. "Are you ready to proceed to the future?"

"As ready as we'll ever be," said vaDrann. "Take us to the ones that got away."

"You better brace yourselves. Traveling into the future with non-deities is bumpy."

The space around them became a vortex of rainbow-like colors, and the time between each one of them was as still as stone.

_This will take a while,_ he thought, _but justice is best when it's brought by those with the power and right to obtain it. I wonder what the game is this time with them. For all anyone knows, it's simple, common, selfish revenge._

-x-

"A new benefactor…for a different price"

Sometimes, they wanted to think things differently for a little while. Often, they wished that the Gibborim had never summoned them to their undersea realm. But things weren't as they should've been for them. They did meet the Gibborim, became their minions, and were richly-empowered by them in exchange for their services. And that all came crashing down the moment their mole decided to meddle in their affairs.

But, when their lives should've ended that night, something happened. Something prevented their demise and sent them elsewhere. And now, they were here, in some strange, eerie palace, lying on a blood-red and comfortable rug, looking up at a burning lantern.

"Ugh," Frank Dean groaned, the first to come to. "Where are we?"

"I could've sworn the Gibborim were about to burn us to dust," went Tina Minoru.

When the other members of the six pairs came to and got up, they recalled something that had also nearly happened: The Deans and Hayeses had teamed up to get rid of the others and take the six slots for themselves and their children!

"Damn, you four!" Robert Minoru shouted at the Outcasts and Colonists.

"ENOUGH!" An unusually-powerful voice erupted from the walls of their surroundings. "What is this ruckus I hear from within my sacred chambers?!"

Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder look up toward what looked like a throne of skulls and tar, seeing a young woman (or a little girl, really), with the coldest of dark eyes and the palest of skin, looking down at all of them.

"You six pairs were going to die by your former benefactors, regardless of whether you served them well or not," she told them. "But I saved you from their wrath, brought you to recoup from the defeat you were dealt, and the least you can do is hear me out."

The twelve just stood there and waited for more dialogue from the girl.

"That's better," she told them. "Where the Gibborim would allow only six individuals a spot in their new Eden, I shall allow more than double that number. What they granted you in exchange for innocent souls, I shall give you in exchange for your loyalty…and what they probably wouldn't allow you to do at the time whenever it came to delivering them their offerings, I shall allow you to. And you can even have revenge on the ones that caused the Gibborim to nearly end you: Your children, who refused to follow in your footsteps and carry on your legacy."

She looked down at the Yorkes, and didn't like their expressions. But then, she recalled the reason to why they were like that: The spell that the young Minoru girl had placed on them was still in force.

"All of you, please, step away from the Travelers," she told the others, and fired a beam of green light at their bodies. "All bad things must end."

Soon, they looked as though they had come to again, and recalled memories that were buried deep within them: How the Minorus' daughter had bound them with a spell so powerful, they couldn't act against it, not even to save their own daughter, knowing what it would cost them in the future.

"Gert is gone," whimpered Stacey Yorkes as she fell to her knees.

"Your daughter's not dead, Mrs. Yorkes of the Travelers," the girl told her. "She's not dead, anymore. She was recently resurrected by a man I despise for his personality, his philosophy, and I would like all of you to make sure he doesn't interfere in people's lives again."

"Just…who are you?" Alice Hayes asked her.

"I am called…Sister Deception," the girl answered, revealing her eyes could flare bright green. "I am an ancient and eternal enemy of Brother Correction's, the one that restored Alex Wilder and Gertrude Yorkes to life, months after they were killed, and brought all six of your children back together."

"Okay, I'll buy that," Geoffrey Wilder told her, still enraged that the Outcasts and Colonists had, originally, planned to end him and the others. "But is your sole motivation the removal of your ancient and eternal foe…or do you have other plans you want us to carry out for you?"

Deception gave him a slight smirk of darkness before saying, "You're very perceptive, Mr. Wilder…and direct. Yes, I do have other plans for you that I want done, but they can wait. A lot has happened since I pulled all of you from the fires that almost killed you. You are believed to be dead, killed by your children, even though no bodies were discovered. Your descendants have gained more allies in the form of a cyborg known as Victor Mancha, made by the mechanical cretin, Ultron, that has achieved complete humanity thanks to them, a girl from the seventh year of the Twentieth Century named Klara Prast, with the power to control plant life and was married to an alleged devout man by her mother because she viewed her ability as a form of witchcraft, of course, I mean no offense to you Minorus, who aren't as unstable as others wish to think or believe you are, and quickly sent her off to America where she met your kids when they got displaced in said year where they met her, the Skrull prince/princess known as Xavin, married to your Majesdanian daughter, as per your old pact with the Skrull's father at the time, and another pair of people from the same year as Klara Prast: A young woman named Lillie McGurty and a young man gifted with mechanical wings known simply as Tristan. A total of eleven children, thanks to Correction, and each one of them has skills they've yet to master completely to defend themselves against future threats. If you're going to deal with them and the things they took from you to use against you, you'll have to toughen up and salvage the remains of what the Gibborim had given you before they turned on you. And this time, all twelve of you must cooperate with each other because…with me, the only superior one…is your savior. There is no leader among the Pride…only comrades. But for now, I shall allow you to rest and ingest what I've told you. As an old saying people have tend to forgotten once said, _"Revenge is definitely best when it is on a dish served cold"_."

Then, she disappeared from off the throne of skulls and tar, leaving the Pride alone to digest everything they had learned from her…and they were as silent as the calm oceans on a cold morning. She would be their new benefactor…in exchange for their loyalty, offer them what they wanted if they helped her beat this guy that brought their deceased children back to life, just to prove that, whatever his beliefs were, he couldn't maintain them or whatnot forever.

Out of all of them, the Travelers were probably the most unresponsive of the Pride. Dale and Stacy, while proud to know that their daughter was alive and well once more, didn't know how to accept an offer that this lady deity or demoness had given them. They had been trapped inside themselves for what felt like years after Nico had cursed them into silence to prevent them from saving their Gertrude, and just a few moments ago were set free from that curse by this girl that simply wanted them to serve her in her goals.

"Dale," went Stacy to her husband, "should we accept?"

"Well, it beats what the Gibborim were offering," he had responded, "and I got a score to settle with the Minoru girl."

"Not before we even the score with more ancient sorcery to punish her for her actions," said the Magicians to him.

"If I don't have to get involved with any more killings and sacrificing innocent souls, I'm all for it…again." Janet told them.

"It looks like we all agree on the offer," said Catherine, desiring vengeance against the kids that nearly defeated them.

"The Pride lives," they all said, afterward.

-x-

"…I don't think I'll ever get the hang of this," said Molly to Chase and Gertrude, as she and Klara were facing what the Hayes girl thought was a life-ending challenge: Home schooling.

"I know how you feel," Chase told her. "I hate math, too."

Gert, now sporting longer, purple-dyed hair and a taller, slimmer figure, due to the three years that came and went, chuckled in agreement. Math was never their favorite subject. But, if Molly and Klara were ever going to go back to living in the regular society that was outside the confines of the Malibu House someday in the future, they had to know as much as they could teach them.

"I'd rather be swimming out there again," whine Klara to them, having mastered the art of swimming lessons from Gert and Karolina six months after their last encounter with Brother Correction, and enjoyed the water as much as she enjoyed talking to her rose garden that she made eight months ago. "Can't we call it a day with math, please?"

"Not until you solve this last question," uttered Chase to her.

Three years since Brother Correction changed everything for them. Bringing back those that didn't deserve to die or live with misery. The group had faced many challenges ever since those days: They had defended numerous innocents from crazy criminals that had often, even repeatedly, tried to fill in the power vacuum left by the Pride, evading S.H.I.E.L.D. and Iron Man, along with Social Services and the like, and, above everything else, just staying together and alive, which were nearly made easy with the powers bestowed upon them by Correction three years prior.

"What's one-hundred times twenty?" Gert asked them.

Molly thought about the question…and answered, "Is it…two-thousand?"

"Klara?"

"Twenty-thousand?"

"And…Molly answered correctly."

To be continued…

A/N: It's been years since I started this story, and it's another story I have to break down, otherwise I'll never be free of it. But what do you think so far?


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